After a long career at Barron's, I joined Forbes as San Francisco bureau chief in December 2010. I've been writing about technology and investing for more than 25 years. With the Tech Trade, I've picked up where I left off when I was writing the Tech Trader Daily blog at Barrons.com. When I'm not working, you can find me riding my road bike around the Bay Area hills, managing my fantasy baseball team, rooting for my beloved Phillies and Eagles and hanging out in the Valley with my family. You can follow me on Facebook, on Twitter (@savitz), and on Google+.

Mary Meeker Talks Twitter, Waze, Venture Capital And More

A: We just want easy search. For me, for what it’s worth, I got a new HDTV, and the screen is fabulous. I’m watching 10%-20% more TV because of the quality of the experience.

Q: Scheduled TV? I find the only things I watch live are sporting events, or the Oscars.

A: I’m doing more of that. But in the last year, with the new TV, I’m watching more TV because the viewing experience is so much better. Also, I’m a DirecTV customer, and since they improved and sped up their remote control experience, I’m now watching more TV because of the better screen and the better search functionality. When search is that much better and you’ve got more seamless integration with sites like YouTube, the ability to search, find and obtain stuff on the TV is going to be pretty exciting.

Q: How many deals have you done in your Kleiner fund to date?

A: In the Digital Growth Fund, 21 companies so far. It’s a billion-dollar fund, and we’ve invested about half. But we didn’t make any bets at all in the first quarter.

Q: Is that not unusual?

A: The valuations are pretty high in a lot instances.

Q: But you waded back in a bit in the second quarter.

While we didn’t make any investments in Q1, we made two investments in the second quarter: Lending Club and Codecademy.

Q: Tell me about them.

A: I’ll start with Lending Club.Savings accounts are paying less than 1%, yet credit card rates remain over 16%. The spread between these two numbers is at an all-time high, amplifying a perceived disconnect between borrowing and lending rates. Lending Club provides borrowers access to personal loans at a cost well below marketplace alternatives via a streamlined, online process. Funding for the loans comes directly from investors, who earn interest as borrowers repay. Lending Club has enabled more than $650 million in personal loans and is issuing $150 million per quarter thus helping consumers lower borrowing costs. For investors, Lending Club is at the forefront of a rapidly growing new asset class that has delivered attractive and consistent returns during a period of upheaval and volatility in most financial markets.

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